Timeline of modern history (1940-1949)
(Continues from years 1930-1939) 1940s: The Great Game 1940 Events in Eurasia *'Great Asian Plague'. The Plague reaches the fringes of the Ural and Kuznetsk mountains, killing thousands and incapacitating Vidalist infrastructure and industry. A harsh quarantine is imposed, and in a speech from Vidalopol, "It is right and fitting that these who go before us sacrifice their lives to build up the glory of Communism, that Vidalia may remain a shining example of what the human spirit may endure. We the living salute the glorious dead and hope that we have the fortitude to emulate this same example." In reality, what is happening is that Vidalian survivors of the plagues are attempting to escape into Western Vidalia, but are cut down by machine-guns installed by the Red Guard to enforce the quarantine. *'Vidalia loses 5% of its population.' As a result, the fringes of the Urals and the Kuznetsk regions are completely depopulated as the plague continues its route southwards. Events in Oceania *'Brave New World Order'. With the sundering of the former United States of America in the Second Civil War, the whole of Oceania is now a house divided. **'Atlantic Federation:' The self-proclaimed heir to the USA and the British Commonwealth, the Atlantic Federation is a sprawling mass of former nations, covering north-eastern America, the British Isles (exculding Ireland), Eastern Australia, Hawaii, Aotoarea and several possessions throughout the Caribbean. **'Southern Confederacy:' Born out of the struggles between black people and white racial supremacists, the Southern Confederacy is a white racialist state that practises slavery in the former Southeastern United States. **'Vidalist Republic of North America:' Covering a swathe of land from former California down to the borders of Mexico, this cannot really be considered a nation, but rather a collection of rural farming communities populated by all sorts of "unsavoury" pacifists, runaway black slaves, Red Indian tribes, New Ager paganists, and other folk unworthy of either the Confederacy or the Federation. *'The Tapioca Affair.' In the summer of 1940, a diplomatic crisis broke out in the New World: the wife of the Jefe of the Bolivarian Republic, General Tomas Teodemiro Tapioca, ran away from her sumptuous palace in San Theodoros, reputedly to elope with a Confederate sailor with too much time on his hands. **'Casus belli:' The elopement resulted in a diplomatic crisis when Meche Tapioca was found later in a seedy hotel in Houston, naked and strangled to death. Naturally, General Tapioca's sexual pride was dented, and he tried to assuage it by sending some lowly colonels to literally yell words in the faces of the Federal Embassy in San Theodoros, which would have been most unbecoming for the Mother Superior of the Most Immaculate Holy Order of Santa María de Bogotá, but to no avail, given that the Atlantic Federation was neither in control of nor responsible for the actions of the Southern Confederacy. **'Start of the Confederate War.' Enraged, the General recalled his troops from the African front, invaded Mexico, annexed Cuba and Jamaica from the Federation, besieged Houston and Jacksonville, and even sent agents to level the White House, not realising that the capital had been moved to Ottawa. By August, Bolivarian troops and marines were raping, looting and killing throughout the Missisippi River Valley (helped in no small way by countless American Jews and blacks for whom being sold to Asia and Salviatia as slaves was not an option). And the Confederate leadership holed up in Charlotte, seemed next... **'Operation White Christmas'. On Christmas Day, the Atlantic Federation finally responds and sends an expeditionary force to meet the Bolivarians. Franz-Heinrich von Salviat scores a major coup for the European movement by offering to ship supplies over for rehabilitation on the understanding that the Confederacy was to be preserved. In a blitzkrieg battle, Federal General Omar Patton and Confederate General George Bradley launch an armoured assault on the North American East Coast, driving Bolivarian forces back all the way to Miami. The advanced is prevented from being flanked by the deployment of Federal aircraft and Confederate guerillas on the east bank of the Missisipi River. By the beginning of the following year, Florida is secure and the CFNE relief force can begin shipping humanitarian supplies into Confederate territory. Bolivarian prisoners of war, wary of the fate that awaits them if they were repatriated, stay on as indentured labour, while others are taken back to Europe. **'Bolivarian Republic loses brownie points'. Because of how it chose to renege on its promise to support South African claims to territory during the War of the Angolan Succession, the CFNE withdraws its ambassadors from Tapiocapolis. This does not matter to General Tapioca anyhow, given that he has promises of aid from the ESL in Asia. 1941 Events in Eastasia *'Great Asian Plague reaches China', killing an estimated 100,000 people in 7 months. *'Hajj Incident'. Pilgrims from Mecca contract Wafa's disease, a contagious disease which was thought all but extinct years ago and now creates a pandemic throughout the Hejaz. Despite calls for revenge on Shiites who are thought to have deliberately infected Sunni pilgrims, the Caliphate appeals for calm on all sides, although TILSA is forced to act and some individuals are reported interned in Evin, Tehran. Events in Oceania *'War of the Confederacy rages on.' **'Bolivarian Republic annexes California.' On the advice of field-marshall Luiz Baténbergo, Tapioca reroutes the Bolivarian assault on North America to the more poorly defended California. Given that the Goldstein Brigade believed more in "giving peace a chance", the whole Southern Pacific Coast is peacefully taken by April. **'The Federation strikes back.' Valparaiso, Isla de Pascua and Callao are bombed into submission by Federal naval forces as the Australian brigade arrives in South America. **'Battle of Seattle fought between Horde forces, and RB-GB defenders'. Seattle is sacked in the middle of winter by SAO forces. Although the Bolivarian army and air force claim victory, in reality Seattle was a successful raid by Horde slavers to capture women, armaments and commodities for transport back to Siberia. Events in Africa *'War of the Angolan Succession': **'South Africa is now fighting for its life'. Trans-Sahelian forces have overrun former Rhodesia and have taken Gaborone, the administrative cantonment. With Bolivarian forces and resources diverted away from Africa, the South African war machine may well grind to a halt. 1942 *'Outbreak of Great Asian Plague in South Asia:' **'Plague is transmitted by pilgrims' from the Ganges back into various parts of India; the death toll of this is still unknown to this day. **'Sectarian violence hits the Sultanate of Delhi' as Hindus and Muslims accuse one another of deliberately spreading the plague. In crowded conditions and overstretched medical facilities, over 2,000 die in 10 days of rioting. Similar incidents on smaller scales erupt in Agra, Pune and Goa. **'Plague reported by TILSA in Afghanistan'. The Caliphal Government later on confirmed that there were some deaths, but only 300 deaths were reported. 1943 *'Great Asian Plague reaches the Turkish coast. '''European governments rush humanitarian assistance to Istanbul in order to contain the plague. 1944 Events in Oceania *'Operation White Lie'. The Federal Resources for Anti-Terrorism (also known as "FRAT") stages an uprising in Mexico which quickly goes awry. By the end of June, many Mexican cities are now little more than prison camps guarded by homicidal Bolivarian taskmasters, but the Alcazar Army is out in the field and conducting a guerilla raid against Bolivarian forces from the jungles of Chiapas and the mountains of Guatemala. 1945 *'War of the Angolan Succession:' **'Great Asian Plague reaches Iskandariyah', killing an estimated 50,000 people in 7 months. The loss of manpower is more than the Egyptian war machine can bear, and Egyptian morale sinks to its lowest since Egypt entered the war. 1949 * * * *'Maratha Conference'. At the Maratha Conference held at Pune, the Tibetan Empire is partitioned but left alone, ending its decade-long feud with the ESL. The commanderies of Qinghai and Xizang are ceded to the ESL, and Tibet agrees to become an ESL protectorate, with the blessings of the Salviatian and Vidalian delegates to the Conference. ''(Continues at years 1950-1970)